Snow Equipment Buying/Pricing I know it is July...but a snow question....

[Mike in Ohio]

Hello All-
I am about to jump in feet first on my first tractor. Making the move from the city to the out-skirts. Grew up in the country of Wisconsin, moved to various cities for 20 years....looking back, Mom and Dad were on to something...now I am headed out! Bought a new place with about 4 acres, pond, woods, and concrete drive (12ft wide...about 120ft long).
First...this tractor shopping is harder than buying my last truck. The choices/attachments/dealer locations/etc. I think I am officially losing sleep over it now.
Basically have it down to the JD2305 and the MF GC2600 (I been reading everything about the 2400 and 2600 Higer RPM stuff, and became more confused about it...yikes).
Anyway, my question is this....I was prepared to purchase the snowblower for either the JD or the MF. Growing up in Wisconsin, we always had one. Living in Cleveland the last 12 yrs, I have had a walk behind blower. They have always worked great. Ironically, both the JD and MF dealer are trying to talk me out of that and go with a rear blade (or possibly a front blade) for moving snow. They are saying it is cheaper and will do the same job. I agree, the blower is around 2800 on each unit....but again, that is what I have always used, and if it is not broke, why fix it?

I know front blades work really well on pickup trucks....what about these tractors?
The biggest reason I want to make the decision now is for pricing, as well as to package all the attachments into the 0% financing.
FYI...the scale leans slightly to the MF2600 with FEL, 60mmm, and snowblower/front blade/rear blade thing.
Thanks
Mike

Oh, one more thing....I was thinking I could move snow around with the loader....both dealers said it would take way to long and be a pain in the you know what....

 

[s78wingrider]

I never used a blower but from what I saw last winter with just the small ones on garden tractors, was impressed! I say if thats what you want, get it!

 

[Don87]

I'm a firm believer in blowers myself, but then again I live in the 'snow belt' here in Pa. I have the blower on order for my gc2400.

 

[bp fick]

The snow blower is a terrific machine, whether self propelled or mounted on a tractor. Yes, they are frightfully expensive. Worth it over the long, long haul, perhaps.

I can speak from my own experience of living up here in Crawford County, Michigan that a front, full control, hydraulic snow blade is the cat's meow. A rear blade is very, very inexpensive, but simply does not compare. You are driving over the snow before the snow gets to the blade. You have no where near the over all control and you're cranking you neck around to look at it. Yuk.

The front blade, just as on a pickup truck, is great!!!! Much more expensive than a rear blade, but much less money than a blower.

But, on your new 4 acre piece, you'll have to have room to stock pile the snow, if you use a blade. Start out the season with super wide pushes and take the excess to a side yard dump area. A front end loader makes re-locating piles and such much easier too.

 

[James Loehr]

I live in Wisconsin and have a Kubota BX2360 with MMM,loader and front mount snowblower. This is pretty close to what your looking at. The front mount snowblower works the best of anything I've used over the past 25 years. I've used blades,the loader and a rear mount snowblower. All of this works but the front mount snowblower is the working out great for me.Snow piles just create snow drifting. I liked the Massey GC2400 but don't have a dealer close by. The GC2400 would have been very high on my list otherwise and much nicer than the Deere 2305 IMHO.

 

[NSBound]

Last spring when I bought my tractor, I went through the same deliberation. I opted for saving the money up front with the thought that I could always buy the snowblower later if necessary.

It turned out OK at least for the first winter. We didn't have too too much snow, so the FEL and back blade (actually, I have a box blade, but it worked OK too, just had to stop and push the snow out of it from time to time) worked fine.

The one thing I did have to do was add tire chains on the rear tires, as when the snow was wet and heavy, I would almost totally lose traction and spin my tires (R4), despite having loaded tires. But it was OK just using the FEL for "plowing" and relocating the snow. Now, if we have a heavy snow winter, that all might change, and I'd be prepared to fork over the $$$ for a rear-mount blower if necessary.

 

[Mike in Ohio]

Thanks for all the feedback to this point.....

My heart/head is telling me the snowblower route....really! My pocketbook is saying front blade.

I agree with bp fick....it just didn't make much sense to me to drive over the snow and then try to move it (rear blade).

Heck...it's only money at this point!
Mike

 

[RoyJackson]

Oh, one more thing....I was thinking I could move snow around with the loader....both dealers said it would take way to long and be a pain in the you know what....

My drive is 8-10 feet wide, 150-180 feet long (never actually measured it) and hard packed gravel.
I prefer using the FEL bucket. Goes fairly fast, actually.

I also have a rear blade which can either push (by driving in reverse) or pull (but going over the snow first). The blade is quicker for lighter snows (6-8 inches), then you use the FEL for moving the piles further from the driveway. Pushing is good for that final pass, but going over the snow (pulling the blade) for those first passes clears the majority of the snow pretty quickly with minimal neck strain.

However, as I wrote...I prefer just using the bucket (haven't used the rear blade in a couple of years). For a medium length drive such as ours (>100' but less then 200'), that bucket can move (pushing or dumping) a lot of snow before you have to dump it (depending on the depth of the snow).
Front blade...love to have a QA front blade for my loader...not in this year's budget. I would not want a front blade that replaces the loader though. NSBound made a good point...using a front blade pretty much demands tire chains (and rear ballast, I might add).
As far as a front snow blower...just depends if you want to spend the money (and budget in for some good foul weather gear while youre blowing snow!)

If you go with the blade, you'll want to be out there pretty quickly if the snow is wet and heavy (6", no more).

As an aside...since you wrote you lived in Wisconsin at one time...I was in Wisconsin late 2009. When driving from Appleton to Antigo, I saw a whole bunch of smaller tractors (CUTs and a bunch of old Fords). Looked like all the Fords (8N's and such) had rear blades rigged and ready to move snow.

Good luck with your decision...

 

[scoutcub]

I have (and have used) a front blade and blower. I prefer the blade. It goes much quicker, and (to me) is more fun. I'm spoiled with the hydraulic angle, makes it even easier.
Are you close to the lake? Lots of snow? A blower will remove it far from the drive, but blowing without a cab can be a "blinding" experience!

If we ever get too much snow, I can switch blade to blower in 5 minutes....haven't had to do it yet. I run R-1's with no chains and no rear weight, it's been no problem thus far.

Good luck!

 

[rswyan]

You didn't say where you had moved to ..... but since you mentioned Cleveland, I'm guessing that it's a suburb ....... is your new place in the primary snowbelt ? ..... the secondary snowbelt ?

West side ? ..... East side ?

Big difference between living in Chardon vs. Grafton ......

Given the relatively short length of your drive, I'd be inclined to agree with Roy ..... the FEL outta do the job .....

I live at the bottom of the secondary snowbelt (between Akron and Canton) and as a consequence we generally don't get a lot of very heavy snows .... mebbe a couple a year ....

A portion of my driveway (packed gravel) slopes downward ..... I find it very easy to push a fairly significant amount of snow (6" deep) with the FEL quite a long ways down that slope ....

However I did go with a rear-mounted snowblower myself - simply because of the following: 1. my driveway is over 1000' long and clearing it with just the FEL would take way too long, and 2. I'm not always around to clear it when it needs to be cleared (before the snow has gotten really deep)